Homework for the Overactive Brain

Today's Quote--"Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday to me..."

Sunday, February 02, 2003

 

Today's Quote--"Space isn't remote at all. It's only an hour's drive away if your car could go straight upwards."--Fred Hoyle
The Soka bubble is so quiet, it's painful sometimes. I only discovered nearly 36 hours after the fact, that one of NASA's space shuttles had been destroyed reentering the atmosphere, killing all 7 astronauts. One was from Isreal, the first, one was from Cheney Washington, only a short 20 min. drive from my house, it was his first time too. Also heard from friends that one of the lunchladies from HS died this past week...she lived a few houses away from me and I'd grown up with her daughters. It may be a new year in the lunar calendar, but it has already taken lives. I wonder how many people have died in the world in the past 48 hours, since the beginning of that new year. How many won't get to see what it has to offer us?

I'm not afraid of death, it just makes me sad. I miss those who are gone, as I know I will miss every new individual who leaves my life that way. There was that year, that year, my senior year, I think, when so many died around me. Every month I was going to a funeral, a memorial service. Yuko, my good friend, my shakabuku grandmother, my Japan-trip sponser. Devon, two years old and dying of brain cancer, always so brave, always with a smile. Darin, my big brother, the man with the good heart and bad luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, the big brother who I never knew well enough. So many people have died around me...my math teacher in HS, another good friend, Orinda, David's father.

However, I do see this is normal. Humans live a short time only. All we can ask is to enjoy and make the most of every moment we do have. It doesn't stop anyone from hurting, from crying, from missing, but...we can live on. We may die, but humans are a resiliant race of being. We may see all around us death and destruction, war and pain, but we can pull through and achieve great things. Must always have hope for the future, no matter what pain and death befalls us now. Space isn't that far away...

GL 6:05 PM